The Search Part IV, V, and VI
by ayziks
Summary: This 3 chapter arc explores the graphic novel The Search. There are three unresolved plots: Kiyi and Ikem reunifying with Ursa/Noriko leading to Zuko's reconciliation with Mai due to advice from Ursa, more about Ikem and Ursa's time in Forgetful Valley (which fascinates me), and Azula's confrontation with herself after the fight with Zuko. All characters property of Nickelodeon.
1. Chapter 1 - Family Reunion

**Title:** The Search Part IV

**Author:** A6

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** At the end of the new graphic novel The Search, there are several unresolved plot threads. In this one I explore the reunion of Kiyi and Ikem with Ursa/Noriko – a mommy suddenly with a new face. And as a result of seeing what a real love affair looks like between his mother and her first love, it triggers a thought about his own broken relationship with Mai. All characters property of Nickelodeon.

...

At Zuko's request to know everything about her past before Azulon demanded her hand in marriage for his son Ozai, Ursa smiled and said to him as they walked with her arm in his near her heavily damaged home that Azula nearly destroyed, "For you dear, I will start at the beginning."

They walked throughout Hira'a and sat at the restaurant where Ikem and Ursa had their fateful reunion breakfast five years ago. Ursa and Zuko talked for hours over tea about her lifetime love for Ikem, and the terrible hiatus it took during the cruel marriage she had with Ozai.

Ursa admitted to her son, "My secret collection of actors' masks alowed me to mentally escape - at least for a moment - the prison that was the palace. That was the only thing that sustained my sanity at times, when Ozai was at his worst, dear. I am so sorry I could not have been stronger."

"It's not your fault Mother. Father is who he is. Even now rotting in prison and powerless he is unrepentant."

She concluded with a smile and a tender touch to her son's hand, "The _only_ thing that was good about my marriage to Ozai was you and Azula. I am so pleased that you are now the Fire Lord, and a kind one, putting an end to the horrible war with your kind friends. It seems you have made a powerful friend with Avatar Aang. You _do_ realize your connection with him through your Great Grandfather Roku, right?"

"Yes Mom, and I am grateful for that connection. It has made us better friends. Aang considers us sort of relatives," he smiled.

"A wise young man, that new Avatar," she grinned.

Zuko sat back, and sighed, "He and Uncle Iroh actually saved me from myself, and Katara saved my life from Azula's attacks. But Mom. Your story. It's incredible. Especially about Dad and Grandfather. You saved me with that potion Mom. Thank you. I am not sorry Grandfather is gone and Father is in prison."

"It was worth being banished, Zuko to see you as you are. You are more like your other Great Grandfather Roku."

"Thank you Mom. That is kind. I do want to be more like him."

She placed her hand on his shoulder, "I did it because of my love for you, son. You can't love someone if they aren't there anymore. Your father was capable of _anything _to achieve his dream of absolute world power."

"Don't I know _that," _he rolled his eyes, "It was probably good that you didn't know what he did the past five years."

"A chat for another time, dear."

Zuko paused and looked at the ground, "Mom? I'm happy for you the way things turned out. Ikem is good for you. Kiyi is such a sweet little girl."

"Thank you Zuko. He's the best. And she is so much like you at that age. No wonder you connected instantly. The moment I knew who Ikem was, and that he was alive because of his changed face, it was like we had never been separated for those twenty years. That time in the woods together for months... And then my time only as Noriko, not worrying about anything but him and me and Kiyi. It was heavenly, except for not knowing about you and Azula for five years. I have fixed that selfish error now, dear."

"I told you before that was all right. You needed that time to get away from Dad. Even though Ikem isn't really my dad, I am glad he is my step father. I want to get to know him better."

Ursa smiled, "I know he would like that. With everything I told him for months, he feels like he knows you like a son, and wishes you _had_ been his."

"I'd like that Mom. He… he _never_ left you in mind and spirit even though you were separated. He was _always_ in love with you."

"Yes, dear. He never stopped loving me since he was six."

"His undying love for you is something I need to learn from," Zuko said sadly.

"Why, honey?" Ursa worried.

"Because it turns out I am not really good at love. There's a… a girl."

"Mai…" she smiled.

"How did you know?" he looked at her with surprise.

"You two were smitten with each other since you were eight. You never knew how to show it and she wasn't ever allowed to. Where is she dear? Back home waiting for you? Are you… um… engaged or married?"

Zuko wearily shook his head, "No Mom. We were nearly at that point, but she left me about a month ago. When there was almost a war between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation over what to do with the Colonies. I did some stupid things. Like I always have without help."

"Why? What happened?" Ursa fretted.

"I got too consumed with my Fire Lord duties. Too many… complications," he noted, not wanting to talk about the five assassination attempts, "She said I… I didn't_ trust_ her. That I kept too many things from her."

She took both his hands in hers, "Zuko you _need _to go to her. _Right away_, honey. Show her how much you care."

"Do you think she'll take me back? Showing emotion has been so hard for me, and it got me punished continually."

She smiled, "Just apologize to her. Don't make excuses. And the rest will take care of itself. Do you know where she is?"

"I think she's at her aunt's flower shop. That's a place she won't be happy for very long."

"I know that, dear. She never liked anything 'girly'. Walk in by surprise. Go buy her flowers. Watch her jaw drop."

"Um, OK."

"Don't delay."

"Yes Mother. Let's get back to the others," Zuko suggested, but just then a sweet little girl's face came running up to them both. It was Kiyi.

"Hi Zuko!" she beamed.

"Hi Kiyi," he smiled kindly.

Kiyi gave Ursa a long hard look, wearing the clothing of her mother Noriko, "Daddy says that you are still my Mommy. Are you? You look different now."

"Yes sweetheart. I will _always_ be your Mommy," she reached out and gathered Kiyi in her arms. Their warm embrace was just like always, with Ursa tweaking her cute little nose after the hug.

"Yes, you _are_ my Mommy! Daddy says that the kind spirit gave you your memories back but had to change your face to the way it was when you were just Mommy to Zuko and Azula."

"Yes dear, I'm sorry but I had to change back. I had to know about Zuko and Azula. They are as much my children as you are. I love them too, dear."

"You're even prettier than you were before, Mommy."

"Thank you dear, but it's not what we look like honey, it's what we feel inside."

Kiyi hugged her mother again, and kissed her cheek, "I feel like I love you even _more_, Mommy. I was so upset that Azula was going to hurt you."

"She didn't though, thanks to your friend Zuko."

Kiyi gave them both a curious look, "He's not my _friend _any more, Mommy. Daddy says Zuko is something even more special than a friend, aren't you, Zuko?"

"Yes Kiyi. That is right," he knelt on one knee before her and smiled.

"You're my big brother! Yiii!" she squealed happily and hugged him tight, "I've been talking to Daddy. He says we have the same Mommy but different daddies."

Zuko grinned, "That still makes us brother and sister, Kiyi."

"I know. That's even _better_ than being best friends!"

He hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek.

"Daddy says you had a very mean Daddy. He hurt you. And Azula too. Daddy says that's what makes Azula so mean to us."

"That doesn't matter anymore. Your Daddy wouldn't ever do that to you."

"I know. I have such a nice Daddy."

"I get to have him my new Daddy too."

"Really? I like that. Do you get to live with us now, Zuko?"

"No Kiyi. I have another home now. I have to go back, but I will visit you and Mommy and our Daddy again soon."

"I _love_ you Zuko. I always wanted a nice big brother just like you."

"I love you too, Kiyi," he choked up with the thought of something he never had until now, "I always wanted a… nice… little sister just like you."

Aang, Sokka, and Katara came up and Sokka suggested, "We better go, Zuko. Crisis over. Time to solve another problem!"

Ursa, Kiyi, and Zuko walked with them back to the pot simmering on the fire, the only thing workable with the broken home. Ikem stood, knowing this was goodbye. Aang, Sokka, and Katara kept a respectable distance for their privacy.

"Ikem… um, may I call you 'Dad'?"

"I would like that very much Zuko."

Ursa had a quiet sweet smile.

"Dad. Thank you for _always_ loving my mother, and marrying her even after everything that happened. I have _never_ seen her so happy. I know now that this is what she wants – you and the life she wanted since she was little."

"She still wants you and Azula in her life too. That is why she said 'yes' when the Mother of Faces asked the 'hard question'. That is why I encouraged her to come back from a lifetime of just playing 'Noriko'. That is why I had you confront her here with who you really are."

"Noriko will always be part of her. But being here, with you, and with Kiyi is ever so much better for her than the palace ever was even at its best moments. I am her son, but you have loved each other, mostly from afar for a lifetime. You both need each other in this life. As you and she both said, I will never forget who I am, but I will never forget what you gave to each other and now have together for as long as you have each other. And now I have to use that lesson in my own life."

"I wish you well… son," they gripped forearms.

With a tearful eye Ursa encouraged, "Take care of yourself Zuko," and they embraced.

"I will Mom. And when I get back I will make sure the Fire Sages annul any remaining marriage ties between you and Ozai, so that there is no challenge to you and Ikem. But I will also put you as my Protectorate so that all royal benefits - and protections - are yours should you ever have need them."

"You don't need to do that, Zuko. I have everything I need right here in my arms and standing right in front of me," she squeezed her husband Ikem and took Zuko's hand.

"I do. I want you to never suffer anything as long as both of you live. If I die before I have heirs, you will serve. Azula can never ascend to the throne. And what about Azula, Mom. Shall I post a guard?"

Ursa shook her head, "No. I looked into her eyes, honey. I saw a spark of kindness and forgiveness I never saw before even as a little girl. She's never going to bother me again. I think she knows the demon in her head is of her making, not me."

"I will return soon to visit. I promise."

"Don't be gone long, big brother. I will miss you." sniffled Kiyi.

"I'll write,Kiyi."

"I can't read yet, Zuko," she giggled.

"We'll read his letters together dear," Ursa said softly to her daughter.

Ikem came up and put his arm around Ursa's waist, smiled and mentioned, "You have something else to say, dear?"

With some happy suspicion, Zuko inquired, "What, Mom? I thought we talked about everything today."

"There is just one _more_ little thing, Zuko," she sighed happily, "Zuko,dear, Ikem and I are expecting another baby."

Kiyi jumped up and down with joy! "Baby! Baby!"

Zuko's eyes went completely wide and he grinned from ear to ear, "Mom! That's _great!_ I won't want to miss that."

He started to give her a bear hug then worried he might hurt the new baby, and he backed off. She laughed, "You can't hurt your little brother or sister – he or she is pretty well protected in there right now."

"Baby _brother?"_ Zuko's head spun, smiling while he considered the possibility.

With that happy final news, the Zuko departed and with his friends with purpose. He knew where he had to be next.

…

At a flower shop deep in the Fire Nation Capital, the door rang. Mai had her back to the counter.

Irritated that it was late in the day and a customer dared to come in at closing time, Mai sighed deeply, and asked, "How may I help you?"

She turned and gasped as she beheld Zuko, but pursed her lips, remembering her anger, despite how heartsick she was to be back in his arms again.

He could barely hold eye contact with her, "Hello Miss. I… I need to buy some flowers to tell someone special to me how sorry I am."

With a rare tear in her eye, Mai reached out her hands and pulled him into a kiss across the counter, "You've come to the right place, sir."


	2. Chapter 2 - A Walk in the Woods

**The Search Part V: A Walk in the Woods.**

**Author's Note:** This story fills in the blanks of what happens between Ikem and Ursa in their poignant reunion and ultimate marriage as their alternate identities Noriko and Noren. I have been fascinated by their back story. This tale begins at the conclusion of The Search Part III scene in the old prop warehouse.

...

**Five years before the time of Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko in Search Part III**

At the conclusion of their unexpected and tearfully happy reunion after nearly twenty years of separation over breakfast in her home town of Hira'a, Ursa invited Ikem, "Let's go see this spirit of yours."

She put down the mask in her hands, even though she knew not to let her hands be free anywhere near Ikem. He was also reluctant and did not want to press her, knowing she was still dealing with the shock of not only him still being alive, but how he came to have his face changed by a spirit.

The Mother of Faces couldn't change anyone's eyes though, and they looked at each other across the years. They had no regrets, and nothing to keep them apart now.

And so, Ursa grasped his arm affectionately. They were not prepared for what happened next. They both felt the electricity in that touch, but it wasn't enough. Alone in the cluttered old Prop Warehouse behind the stage, after years of agonizing separation, Ursa and Ikem had their first long, deep kiss since he proposed and she had said 'yes'. Since that wonderful long-ago moment that should have been the beginning of their lives together, they had never touched since and barely exchanged a tearful goodbye, as Azulon and Ozai took cruelly her away from everyone she loved in a royal coach and on her way to a crueler marriage.

Their foreheads were touching, and they could not catch their breath with their arms around each other, hugging desperately.

"I_ still_ love you," she said emphatically.

"And I _never_ stopped loving you," Ikem replied.

It was exactly what they needed to hear from each other. They kissed even longer after the tender confessions.

But they knew what they needed to do next, so Ursa brought them back to reality for a moment, "We need to pack for the Forgetful Valley. I'm warning you - I got pretty used to a pampered life as the Fire Nation Princess, so I might be totally useless to you. I don't think I even remember how to cook. You might not even want me any more after a few days alone. You may wish for another new face so I can't find you!"

They laughed happily, but he drew her close, "I've gotten pretty used to taking care of myself alone. It won't be hard to want to pamper you in my own way."

She blushed.

He caressed her still-pretty face, containing many more sad lines than it should be for her age, "You are still _you_ inside. I could see it on that lonely stage a few hours ago. But sadder."

She smiled weakly at him, "Part of me was crushed by Ozai, but now that I'm with you, it feels like it never left me."

They quietly walked to his home, and as she looked around, she complimented him, "Your home is beautiful!"

"I've been pretty successful with the drama business. It's nice without being ostentatious. You'll _like_ living here," he winked and she thrilled with the implications.

She had everything she needed in her own satchel pack that she used when escaped from the palace. She had left little trace of her royalty. Except for one item. He pointed to the top of her head.

"Umm. Ursa. Your royal hair piece?"

"Uh, oops… yes."

She buried it in the bottom of her satchel, never to be worn again.

He packed a knapsack with some tools, and some defensive weapons, and a bag of food and water until they were sure of a good supply. He'd spent months in Forgetful Valley years before, but wanted to be prepared. That living forest was ever-changing.

Ursa look skeptically at his weapons, knowing what the Home Guard and Fire Nation Army packed as standard issue for war, "Just a couple of knives and some old spear points? Will we be safe?"

"It's a scary place, but the forest is like us actors – it creates a fearsome illusion to scare off the faint of heart. If you come with the right mind and spirit, nothing there will bother you. I'm kind of part of this place now. The creatures and spirits know me. They will accept you. You have a kind heart."

"A troubled one, though, my love."

He grabbed his bed roll, but realized what that implied and blushed, "Ursa, I only have one bed roll."

_"One_ bed roll is enough, Ikem," she smiled invitingly.

"Oh?" he smiled.

"Unless you think I am being a 'loose woman'?"

"I still want to marry you. Do you want me with this new face?"

"Yes. Truly I do. You are still handsome, and nothing changed on the inside."

He held her in his arms and invited, "Ursa, then let's marry now, before we leave. The Fire Sages are right up the street."

Cautious reality was the only thing holding her back, "Please know I _want_ to, dearest, but let's wait until after we meet the spirit. A changed face will be much easier to explain. _Someone_ will remember me. We can't risk that. The next scene of 'our secret story' is that you finally met the right woman – someone with a _new_ face to complement yours."

He chuckled, "Who conveniently are you and me underneath! _Living_ masks…how ironic."

They laughed.

But then he got a look of horror, "But aren't you still married to _him?_ Are we destined to be forever apart even standing in front of each other?"

She smiled and rubbed his arm in reassurance, "No dear Ikem, it'll be all right. Banishment cuts _all_ relationships of _any_ kind, _including_ marriage, so I won't have any legal rights to the throne, or any inheritance. Our marriage is irrevocably annulled. Thank the spirits. If he ever tries to touch me again, I can justifiably scream. And he knows that. Fortunately he stopped coming to me after Azula was conceived."

She shuddered recalling his smarmy touches.

"I'm a just a peasant girl again, and my home is Hira'a. And being with you for the rest of my life, in your home."

_"Our_ home. That's such a relief, but I really don't understand why, Ursa, we can't marry right now."

"The Sages know you as 'Noren the drama director,' Ikem. Consider this: after years of being a bachelor, some old woman shows up randomly and the village drama director wants to marry her instantly. The Sages are going to question you about that. It's 'out of character' for a veteran actor set in his ways. Most are still loyal to the Fire Lord and they talk. The word will get around that I am here. And then we are both dead by Ozai's hand. I know he is the kind of jealous man that if he can't have me, no one can. Because I will talk to a new husband."

"Like now."

"Yes. Like now. And that he can't stand the heat of the scandal of being associated with the death of his father as he tries to consolidate power. No, Ikem, let's just keep this low key for now. We can 'act' like we are courting when we get back with my new face, and you can become smitten with me in a scene of 'love at first sight'. The townspeople will think it 'quaint' for two people to fall in love later in life rather than be suspicious."

"Well that isn't acting. That really happened when we were six," he joked.

"Yeah, right after you spit all the dirt out of your mouth," she teased. He just rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of low key. I think I need a new name. How about 'Noriko'?"

He rolled it off his tongue with satisfaction, "Noriko and Noren. Sounds pretty good to me! Like a love story."

"Especially when you put _me_ as first billing," she kidded.

"Ladies always go first, _Noriko."_

She blushed.

Ikem pondered the new name, "Any particular reason for that name, other than the alliteration with my 'stage name'? And why change at all?"

"She was my favorite attendant at court. Who knows what spies are here to watch that I don't get out of line, and leverage my position. I am certain Ozai would guess that I would come back here to be in exile, even though everyone in my family is gone. He sent an assassin for you, and never found you because of your face change. I can disappear here, but not as easily. Ursa is too unusual a name, and although I can guess he will still only spy on me even though he is done with me, so let's not take chances or give him cause to do something that separates us again, this time permanently. Ozai and I made a deal, but no one should ever trust his deals. And I certainly don't want him to think 'Noren' is Ikem. A sudden marriage by me to a stranger is too suspicious for someone wanting to know my every move."

Noren was staggered by all the implications and her desire to make everything safe for them, "Wow, Urs—umm… Noriko. You think all these things completely through. That's not like the spontaneous 'you and me' of twenty years ago. We would have gone to the Sages to tie the knot the next day and laugh at the consequences."

She explained, "Gladly, I would have. If there had been _any other way_ I would have. I seriously thought of running away and marrying you that night, to mess up Ozai's claim to me. I thought that even the Fire Lord can't take another man's wife."

"Why didn't you? I would have done anything you said that day, I was so excited. And brave enough to ask."

"You were very sweet and clever. I never saw your proposal coming."

"Acting at its best! Always give the audience a good cliffhanger!" he joked.

She got close and caressed him, "My dearest Ikem. Thank goodness for us that now I know better about Ozai and his total abuse of royal power. They would have seized me and killed you and the Sage who performed the ceremony and claimed it never happened. I _had_ to protect you with that abrupt goodbye, Ikem, and am so sorry I couldn't ever explain it. They were listening to and controlling my every word. My parents warned me, and the story of Great Grandfather Roku being left to die by his former best friend Sozin in his lust for power. That will always haunt me."

"It's truly a conspiracy."

_"Every_ day is a conspiracy, my love, on the royal court. Are you still sure you want to get mixed up with me? I am barely three days into my exile. They might be after me even as we speak."

"You know I can't live without you, Ursa, now that you are in my arms again."

"I agree, dearest. This time I would rather _die_ than not have you."

They kissed again. It took them awhile to break it.

"Much has changed in me because of Ozai, so I hope you think I remain the same girl enough to be worth dying for. But fortunately my lesson in this conspiracy is how to conspire to_ save_ everything I love, not _destroy_ it. I kept my soul and sanity. And my memories."

"Lucky me to be one of those memories," he reflected and they kissed again.

They finished packing, and secured his home.

"Are you _sure _about sharing a bed roll?" Ikem asked, not wanting to be too obvious.

She was very candid, "You waited this long. I don't want you to wait any longer. I have dreamed every day of being with you."

"And I with you," he admitted.

"Even the nights I was with Ozai I shut my eyes and dreamt it was you, but he never knew. He was so focused on his own gratification and fire bending children prodigies to be sired with me that he never even cared about my feelings. I was just his property. That display of masks sustained me after he left me alone. I could 'escape' back to you."

"Seems like you were wearing a mask all the time in that palace, Ursa my dear."

"I was. It got me through. At least for awhile. When the children grew past toddler age, and much of their care becoming the job of their tutors and mentors, it felt like all my responsibility and influence was over. I couldn't spend the rest of my life alone and unfulfilled in the castle. And I felt I was becoming expendable or at least replaceable with something younger who wanted my tiara. So I started writing letters to you, knowing that they would be found. I was very, very careful."

"You toyed with fire. Literally."

"The last letter was so absurd that I knew we'd have a fight. But I let him get to me, and then my world changed with Azulon's demand for Ozai to murder my precious Zuko. I had only one pai sho piece left. I bet that Ozai would rather kill his own father and take the throne than kill his only son who was only a useless sensitive child to him. But it had a price. I was banished after I created the poison, and it got worse. I admitted I wished Zuko was ours, Ikem, and he mistreated that little boy more cruelly to punish me for even thinking of you. What kind of monster would do that to his own child?

"The same kind of monster that Azulon was to him and Iroh. It just got passed on to the next generation."

"Point taken. And fortunately it got me to the Third Act with the happy ending for our play! Here I am, Ikem, despite everything I had to leave."

"I am so glad. I figured we both would get life's final curtain call before I ever saw you face to face again. I am surprised you have any sanity."

"The love of my children sustained me. At least until Azula started to turn, and she was encouraged to so over my discipline by her father whom she idolized and two women Ozai hired whom I hardly knew."

"Zuko remains a sweet, kind boy trapped as a member of a dynasty that will not tolerate it. Iroh understood him. They were close, until Iroh withdrew from everything after his son's death, and then he shut everyone out. I fear for Iroh as well as for Zuko."

Their packing was done, and they headed for the way out of town toward the Valley. It appeared no one was watching or following.

"Are you ready?" Ikem asked and they reached for each other's hands outside of the village, making sure she wasn't seen doing so.

"Yes. Lead on."

They walked down the rough trail. It was not long before they came to the huge rock shaped like a frightened human face. They were there at the entrance to Forgetful Valley. Neither one knew that it was also a map of the five pools.

She was nervous. She needed to keep him talking, "What's she like, this Mother of Spirits, Noren?"

They were trying hard to assume their new identities by avoiding their real names.

"The spirit is huge and formidable looking but she is kind. She's part tree and vines and part beautiful female spirit. She has five faces herself, and is surrounded by the faces she's creating. She's made every face of everyone who's ever lived. And now she can change people's faces that are patient and sincere enough to come before her here."

"It sounds pretty painful, though, getting a new face."

"It doesn't really hurt, Noriko. She makes you stand while she changes the face. It's just a blinding light and a lot of pressure, and then it's done."

"Will you be there with me when it happens? I don't think I can do it without you," thinking of all the times that Ozai was never there for her.

"Of course."

It was starting to get dark faster than they expected. There was not enough time to make a primitive shelter and fire. They were alone and unprotected in the woods.

"Noren, I am afraid. I… I don't want o sleep on the forest floor tonight. You've done this, but I haven't."

"It's all right. Besides, look at the moon."

They saw the huge full moon flooding the forest with its cold white light.

"It's beautiful. Sleeping under it will be nice, with you, Noren."

They climbed a gnarly but very solid tree to a huge branch above any predator's reach. All many of noises of creatures that they could recognize and many they couldn't screeched, barked, and howled. It was unnerving to Ursa, so he put his arms around her. In a big branch with the full moon shining on them, they snuggled and kissed.

"Now I feel safe," she smiled up at him, and settled under his arm. She always admired that Ikem was so much taller than she was except when they had been preteens together, and she teased about it then.

"I will stay up all night protecting you, Noriko. I can feel like I can reach out and ask the forest spirits to leave us alone."

"That's not fair. You won't get any sleep because of me," she fretted.

In his confession, he had to use her real name, "My dear Ursa, most of my adult life I have stayed up night after night wondering if I would _ever_ see you ever again. I have lost much sleep being without you. Now I can make up for that lost time by simply watching your beautiful face slumbering against me. That's a pretty good trade for no sleep."

She blushed with his compliment and pondered, "You really think my face it beautiful? There are so many stress and age lines there now."

"Even when you are _completely _gray, I will always see that sweet face of your teens."

Her emotions soared for him. Ozai always complained about her not being pretty enough. They kissed a very long time, and she cried in happiness. She let it all go. All the pain, all the loneliness, all the fear, all the criticism and suspicion of her royal life was gone, replaced by the new happiness starting together again with her Ikem.

"I have never been happier in my entire life since the time you asked me 'the question'."

"Me too."

She fell asleep almost instantly, and he was content just holding her and feeling her breathe and her heartbeat next to him the entire night.

…

The next morning, they took off in the direction of the pool at which he held his own spirit vigil. A simple shelter would not do this time. His beloved Ursa was with him and that would not do for her comfort. He needed to make something that would last to hold them comfortably. It had to be something better than a place to wait for the spirit, but also be a place that would let their love be rekindled fully. He drew the design in the dirt.

"Sort of like a stage prop 'lean-to', only a _lot _nicer," she complimented him.

They set about building the shelter together. He cut a lot of the wood, and she gathered and stacked it, and she collected tree bark, palm fronds, and vines to assemble the roof and sides. They dug the post holes, and over the next week or so, assembled a sturdy water-tight shelter for their vigil for the wolf and Mother of Faces. It rained down them several times, but they weren't deterred. She held a big leaf to protect him making the cooking fire and to ward off overly curious creatures. It was hot in the woods and they savored the rain on their clothes. They were getting a lot of rips and tears in their clothes, but it didn't matter. They were building a place for themselves.

Every night they hugged and kissed, but were exhausted, and just slept. They knew they were not quite ready for the next step. After a few days working hard in the humid forest, however, they started to be a little ripe.

"I may love you, Noren, but smelling you is not so great," she laughed.

"Well… truth be told, Noriko…"

"I agree, I caught a whiff of me this morning. Pewh!"

They both laughed.

He took her hand in his, and led her on the trail, "Let's go to the creek wash our clothes and us." They brought water jugs too, to fill up with fresh water.

They stood by the creek in an awkward moment. This really was the moment of truth.

"Should we take turns? I will turn around while you bathe first."

"No we won't. You are very gallant and proper, but this, my love, we do _together._ And _all_ the times after."

They helped each other disrobe, admired each other's bodies, and hugged, reveling in the new feeling dreamed about for so long.

He commented how lovely she was, but she scoffed, "Even after the stretch marks and being droopy from nursing two children?"

"I can't even tell, my dear," he noted, looking and smiling at her body, something he thought he would never see.

She blushed but let him admire her, "You're lying, but you are so sweet to say so."

They laughed and giggled washing each other in the soothing creek water, discovering and exploiting their ticklish spots. But it got a lot quieter soon, with years of pent-up desire finally being realized. They embraced intimately on the sandy creek embankment. They kissed gently afterward, and weren't ready to dress.

"Well since we're like this, let's wash the clothes," Noren suggested.

While they did get their clothes cleaned, they were very distracted, and played and splashed and laughed like teen lovers, throwing their clothes at each other.

While they were waiting for their clothes to dry, she reached and pulled out her Fire Nation Princess gold hair piece. She held it gently, "I can never be found with this. It is too dangerous to have it, especially when I will have a new face."

She tossed it in the deepest part of the creek. Ikem could only watch as she symbolically threw away her old life for the new he was providing her and she wanted so much. And then she restyled her long straight wet hair. She started braiding it around the sides of her head like she did in her late teens and early twenties.

"Do you remember this?"

"Do I ever. I always loved your braids."

"Just for you, dear."

He just watched. She hadn't dressed yet either - on purpose - but eventually their clothes were dry and they put them on and headed back to camp.

"And this – my cloak – gets to become firewood tonight. It was the last thing I was seen wearing when I fled the palace."

…

Watching the cloak burn in the shelter-side fire and its royal clasp melt had a real finality to it. He sighed, and he took her hand.

"You aren't his anymore, dearest. It's _over."_

She admitted, "Ikem, I was _always_ yours even when he forced me to be his. That part of the letters was right."

They reached for each other. The creek side lovemaking made them more eager for their nighttime together. Normally when they reclined in the bed roll, they slept quickly. Tonight they were not tired, and no longer afraid of being intimate. It was even more exciting than their first coupling.

As the fire reduced to embers, they prepared to sleep, and Ikem said, "I will never leave your side ever again, Noriko. That was even better than _any_ dream I had of us together."

She smiled, pulled the bed roll cover over them, entwined for the night, and didn't let go.

….

They lingered in the morning light, and gave in to their continuing desires, but Ursa joked when they were done, _"This_ isn't getting the shelter finished."

"Ask me if I care?"

"There is plenty more time for this, my love. We get a _lifetime_ of being with each other now."

They did finally get up and finished their shelter by the spirit pool.

In the time that followed, every day they talked for hours as they gathered and hunted for food each day. He showed her how to build and throw a spear one day to catch small game. That day he went bare-chested and she gushed her praise for him for his very athletic physique.

The hours grew to days, weeks, and then to months. They did not become anxious for the spirit, because they were vigilant and prayful that she would come, and every moment that they with spent with each other made up for lost time, and they created their own special time together. They talked about everything in their lives after they parted: his time here in the Valley and the changes that happened; her children; his life's work in drama, burying his feelings for her by working constantly as a talented actor at first and then the drama director job. They spent much time on future plans for themselves. They discovered that little had actually changed between them. They fell deeper and deeper into their renewed love. They truly made up for the decades of lost time, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

"Love is _supposed_ to be this way, isn't it, dear Ikem?" she said demurely, joined with him one especially tender night. Ikem knew by inference and whenever she used his real name affectionately that it had never been that way with Ozai, and Ikem hugged her tighter still.

…

Weeks more passed. One day, after a joke about their cooking skills, the blue spirit Wolf lapped water at the spirit pool. It was not long before they stood hand in hand as Mother of Spirits towered above her.

"Human, what do you ask me?" thundered the Mother of Faces.

The Mother of Spirits gave her a choice neither she nor Noren expected. Ursa was faced with the impossible choice to become the happy spouse caring for of the love of her life, instead of being a neglected spouse and a mother who was forbidden to be with her children, never knowing what happened to them. The terrible price was to never even know she had children at all. Not knowing they existed seemed better to her than an eternity of not being able to ever see them again.

The spirit became impatient with the troubled human before her.

"You _must _decide," she demanded.

"Zuko… Azula… I'm so horrible," she whispered.

"Do you wish to have both a new face and a new mind?" repeated the Mother of Faces.

"Yes," she said to the Mother of Faces, with her eyes closed.

"Hold still," directed the spirit.

She did not know that the choice would protect the three people she loved the most, as well as herself. The Mother of Spirits had finished transforming Ursa's beautiful face into the simpler, more common, but equally kind, face of the new persona of Noriko. But the Mother of Faces could not and would not change the face of the tiny human that had just started growing in her womb – she had only a few days before given the baby her face. The little girl would resemble the best of the humans who used to be called Ursa and Ikem.

Noriko groped the air with her eyes closed and blinded by the act of transformation, as the Mother of Faces disappeared silently into the pond behind her. She was frightened, and called out to the one person she hoped would be there for her.

"Noren? Noren, where are you?" Noriko cried out as she wandered helplessly with closed eyes as if she was blind.

He called out to her and quickly embraced her tightly to reassure her, "I'm right here. I always be right here."

Her eyes opened and she gave him a tender look. He could see how much she changed. Her face was very simple, but still beautiful to look at. He loved her. The Mother of Faces hadn't changed her eyes. But he didn't know how much she retained of her life now, and how much the Mother of Spirits had blocked from the memory of her royal years.

Noriko said softly, still holding him unsteadily, "You always are there for me, Noren. That's why I love you so."

That was an instant relief to Noren.

"I love you too, Noriko."

"I feel like I just woke up from a long sleep," she noted.

Noriko didn't realize how true that was.

He thought of a good question to ask, "What do you remember? We'll fill in the blanks after that."

"Well, I remember this handsome stranger offering me breakfast because I'd just arrived alone in town months ago, was confused and lonely, looking for work with the theater, and it instantly felt like we'd known each other for years. Everything felt so right between us from the start, that when you asked me to run away alone together on a camping trip to get better acquainted, like a crazy school girl I agreed. A plain girl like me never gets an adventurous invitation like that! I threw all caution to the wind and went with you all summer here in the forest. Alone. I remember. See - there's our campsite and _our_ bedroll we have shared. I think I got hit on my head, and it's blurry after that. I sure have a terrible headache."

"It looks like you remember a lot," Ikem was amazed. The Mother of Faces allowed her to remember almost everything about the past few months since Ursa and his reunion, but invented a new past life for her of a wandering young woman that had just arrived at Hira'a, and fell for him. It was believable.

"I sure remember first bathing the creek, every time afterwards, and all the nights with you since we got here," she caressed her face.

He was relieved. They didn't have that situation to face.

"All those times are pretty hard to forget, Noriko."

She kissed him.

"You've been out for hours. I've been worried sick. You sort of got up and wandered, and here you are, and I got to you before you fell into the pond."

"Everything feels so right about our time together in the forest, Noren. Except that you are a terrible cook. Everything you make tastes like a dirty old tree branch. I think you need me more than you know. But Noren, I don't remember why I fell. Did something fall on me?"

"No but some_one_ fell for you."

"Oh?" she asked in anticipation.

"Me."

They hugged.

"So what exactly _did_ happen?"

"Well after breakfast I asked you a question."

"This gets even more interesting, Noren. I assume it was not about your cooking."

They laughed.

"What was the question?"

"'Will you marry me, Noriko?'"

She grinned, figuring that had been the question, but teased him, and tried to be casual about it all, "Oh, you asked that, hmmm? And what did I say?"

"Umm. That's kind of where you fainted and fell over and hit your head. And have been 'out' since. You… ah… never actually answered the question. Am I too sudden to ask that kind of question?"

She gave him a mischievous look and said, "Not at all. After months alone together in the forest, we were either going to love or hate each other."

"And which is it for you?" he asked hesitantly.

She answered, "Kneel down. Hold my hands, and ask me again, so I don't fall this time."

He did what she asked without delay.

"Ready?"

"Ready, Noriko."

This was fun for Ikem. It was still her. She was actually toying with him more like the carefree 21 year old Ursa than the renewed and beautiful, but still sad and troubled woman he'd been with for months. She just didn't know it was her. It was almost like they completely regained their lost past, without the pain of her royal years, even though their bodies were older.

She knelt anxiously with him and giggled, "Sooo… it's _your _turn to say something now, Noren."

He looked very lovingly at her, "Will you marry me, Noriko?"

_"Yes!_ Noren. Very much, yes! When?"

"Uh, whenever you want to."

"How long would it take to pack up our gear and get back to Hira'a? I love being here in the woods with you, but we've camped long enough and I want to get to know all about our_ home_ and all the people here."

"About a day or two from now."

"How does _three days after we get back_ sound to you? We don't need anything fancy. I _just_ want to be your wife."

"It sounds just simply wonderful, Noriko. I can invite a few friends. We can use the stage. And the Sages will be very happy I've found you. Only no play-acting this time. This time for real."

"That would be nice. Will you help me pick out a dress? A girl only gets married once in her life, y'know. I was lucky to find you. I don't deserve you."

"And why is that?" he asked carefully, noting that she had absolutely no knowledge of her forced marriage to Ozai, exactly what the spirit promised would happen.

"I'm just a plain old peasant woman. No one ever wanted me before you. I've had a really lonely life just wandering around from town to town with bit acting jobs and housework and cooking jobs for other people since my parents died."

"You're beautiful to me, and will always be young at heart. That's all the matters, dear Noriko. And you're not old. We can still have…uh…" he stopped realizing he was kind of getting ahead of himself.

"Children? Noren. You're so sweet. I _want_ children by you!"

"Me too, Noren, you'll be a great mother."

_"Thank you Mother of Spirits for my beautiful Ursa come back to me as Noriko_," he prayed as he took her into his arms. It was Ursa's body, her voice, but with a brand new face. And no more burdens of being the banished Fire Nation Princess. The new 'script' was being written for their real life play as they proceeded – and the headline act was finally called 'Noren and Noriko'.

…

Just a couple of days later, the couple was married and exchanged vows and kisses in front of the pleased townspeople. The general opinion of the villagers was that Noren always deserved a good woman, and he finally found her, a gentle wandering soul. They were a handsome couple in their wedding finery.

Quietly, an undercover agent of Ozai mingled with the celebrating crowd wearing party apparel. He scanned the crowd for the faces of Ursa and Ikem, and gripped his blades, ready to strike before they could react. Ikem had been searched for before, but if Ursa was here, he would surely now surface and they'd reunite. He had memorized who to be looking for. A marriage between the drama director and another actor would naturally attract all the actor intelligentsia in the area. Ursa had been a known thespian in her youth with Ikem, and it would be appropriate for them to be there for the marriage of one of their colleagues. Someone had mentioned a woman looking like a royal with a Fire Nation royal hairpiece had been seen in town months ago briefly. He ignored the bride and groom. It most certainly was not them. They were both very ordinary looking people.

But they had to be somewhere in the general vicinity of her birthplace. He prepared to move on to another town.


	3. Chapter 3 - Redeeming Values

**The Search Part VI: Redeeming Values**

**Rating; T - **threats of violence and self loathing and self destruction

**Author's Notes:** I've always been a fan of Azula redemption stories by others. The end of The Search Part III and Korra Beginnings Part 1 finally gave me an opportunity write my own by tying two canon moments together with a conjecture that I hope you think plausible. And if you had not considered this before, I hope that I make you stop and think! :)

…

**Just outside Noren and Noriko's damaged and burned home**

Despite herself, Azula ran angry and crying into the towering rock wall entrance to Forgetful Valley, to escape the reality that she was still deeply cared for by her brother and by the transformed identify of her mother Ursa, now known as Noriko, who - despite only knowing Azula as her would-be killer - had unexpected compassion for Azula, a complete stranger to her. That had stopped Azula cold in her tracks from murdering Noriko, and allowed Zuko to intervene by defending Noriko from harm, and to try to reach out to help and calm his sister.

It was too much for Azula to take. She didn't want to feel anything, nor accept help from anyone who had any compassion for her. Compassion and love were weaknesses to her. But the shock of the encounter with Noriko took the fight out of her, so she just ran away from her family.

Staring death in the face by Azula's flaming hand, Noriko's tearful final wish for a daughter she did not even know she had resounded in Azula's head over and over, "If what you say is true. If I really _am_ your mother, then I am _sorry_ I didn't love you _enough."_

Those words had cut Azula to her soul. Even innocent – but perceptive - Noriko understood that the hatred in Azula's heart for her estranged mother was due to something known to be lacking in Azula's life. Everyone who cared for and loved others thought that way – of others before self.

These kinds of feelings were sickening to Azula, and showed a further sign of weakness of those around her, especially from her family. And yet she fled, rather than kill everyone in the house and leave nothing but the ashes of retribution in a quiet corner of Hira'a. Something deep within her prevented her from that. Her father would be ashamed of her cowardice and hesitation in the confrontation just minutes ago.

_"__Am I weak too?"_ she thought - with a resounding 'yes' pounding in her head in her father's voice.

But Azula also knew deep inside that she was the one who needed to return the love to her mother that she had rejected time and again for what her Father encouraged and often forced her to do. She could not quell the tears in her eyes and she detested that.

The tears stayed and came back worse when Zuko had reached out to her.

"Shut up!" she screamed at her brother, and in her anger, she dropped her mother's incriminating letter placing doubt on Zuko's royal heritage. Even she was not sure if she dropped it on purpose.

Zuko called out again and again to Azula, but she ignored him.

Finally she turned and sneered in total defiance, _"Always _the same, Zuzu. Even when you are strong, you are _weak."_

It lacked the conviction of her past threats with her eyes bloodshot from crying.

She ran past the rock entrance of Forgetful Valley and deep into the woods. She ran for hours, not caring where she was or where the trail led her, or whether she was being followed. She prayed for a sheer cliff to abruptly end her running. It seemed to her every trail in life since the day of Sozin's Comet took her to a bottomless canyon.

_"__Why_ didn't you just let go of me, Zuzu?" she sobbed, remembering that in Zuko's own consuming anger only a few days before, he let her dangle helplessly over the precipice.

He'd never put her in a life or death situation until then. But he didn't let go. It actually frightened her that she had pushed him that far. And he didn't actually hurt today either.

She realized that she had wished for death over continued torture in this life. She shuddered. She'd threatened and caused the deaths of many people in her short life, but never considered that thought for herself until the past few days. Her life had been all about threatening, surviving and prevailing – always victorious and proud. She hadn't been victorious and proud of anything for over a year.

"What has _happened_ to me?" she finally asked the question of realization.

Even the one sure thing that drove her since the fall of her father and her defeat in the Hundred Year War - the voice and ethereal image of her mother - turned out not to be real. For nearly five years, Ursa lived as Noriko and she loved her family in absolute anonymity with her also-changed childhood sweetheart and their little girl – Azula's half-sister. During that time, Noriko was completely ignorant of the existence of her first two children. Azula realized that Noriko could not have been Ursa in her head all this time. Noriko didn't even know Azula existed until a few days ago, and not learned she was her daughter until only minutes ago, and that she was another person herself five years ago.

Azula was shaken to her core, "Mother didn't do _any_ of this. The visions… the conspiracy… were _all_ my… _imagination…" _

She finally realized that the voice in her head was not her mother's spirit calling out in compassion to quell Azula's daily inner turmoil, but was her own internal creation. More distressing was that her imagined vision had been there, personified as Ursa, since the day her only friends turned against her at Boiling Rock prison. Her only defense against the consequences of her self-loathing manifested itself as her mother's image - telling her to turn back from her internally destructive ways.

It finally dawned on Azula that voice and image of her mother was none other than her own inner conscience calling out to save her from herself, but she ignored it at every turn, thinking everything and everyone in her life was part of a conspiracy against her.

"No wonder they thought I was insane."

She needed to run faster, to leave that image behind, but she could not run away from it.

"Get _out_ of my head!" She screamed, clutched her temples, and tried to squeeze it out.

"Maybe if I _burn_ it out," she said as she started a flame. But she hesitated, and quickly doused it.

She almost killed the two people she needed the most in her life, but that conscience masquerading as her mother would not permit it. Maybe it was worth ending it all to never let herself get out of control to do so ever again. In Noriko's house, she would have slaughtered all of them, but for Noriko's haunting words and for Zuko's powerful defensive moves.

The stun of her very own lightning redirected back at her not only stopped her, but it opened her eyes to realization. It was stopping her now from ending her life. She was keenly aware that Zuko had redirected the lightning back at her at a fraction of its true intensity. It was intended to kill Zuko, and it would have killed her too, had he not tempered the bolt. She had no idea how to defend herself against lightning as her brother did.

Conversely, the 'old Azula' within her knew that she hesitated. Her father would have punished her severely for not having the will and discipline to go out of this world in honor. He would have not blinked in putting the flame to her head. He did burn Zuko in the agni kai, and would have followed his own father's orders to kill his own son but for her mother's treason against her grandfather. She had been gleeful as a little girl knowing what was about to happen to Zuko to make her an only child and the heir.

Now she just felt ashamed.

She asked the fundamental question that she would have never asked before, "What then is the stronger emotion? Compassion and love – or fear? For all your bending skills, cunning, and bravado, what had it gained you, Father? A lifetime in prison with absolutely no power. You were defeated by people of mercy and peace: the 'weak' ones - Mother and Zuko and the Avatar - and his peasant lover."

Even after a lifetime of service and obedience to her father, thinking that would gain his acceptance, he wouldn't let her see the final victory over the Avatar and the destruction of the Earth Kingdom by fire. He was too selfish, too self-imbued with his power to ever share, which was her dream – to share world rule with her father. It was a bitter disappointment not to fight by his side. That too, triggered her unraveling. That was absolute rejection to her.

She knew then he was not capable of loving her any more than he was capable of loving her mother. They all were just used by him in one way or another.

"It's not fair!" she screamed.

She trained constantly for perfection and pushed compassion and caring out of her life, using fear and coercion to get everything she wanted, because that's the example her Father provided as the way to live her life. The voice in her head of her mother's caring had been useless to her.

"But what has all of that gained me?" she noted as no one in the palace wanted to follow her as Fire Lord. Those she didn't dismiss had resigned or fled. She was so shallow in her relationships that she couldn't even tell the difference between Lo and Li who had trained her for years.

Her own friends had turned on her at Boiling Rock because of love. And now she was totally alone, lost in a great forest. It seemed appropriate. She was completely isolated in the world, completely out of step with what it was becoming. Love seemed so needless before. Now it was essential. And she couldn't draw upon anything within her to express it.

_"__I love Zuko more than I fear you."_ The words of Mai were chilling. And Mai was right.

Mai never loved her as a friend or sister. She merely followed orders, or acted out of fear or coercion, until those orders became too unbearable. So did Ty Lee.

She felt totally empty.

"But if I can't end it, then what good am I? I can't even do _that _right. There's _nothing_ left inside me."

Love was something she didn't have in her. She saw it constantly between the two other people she had hated more than her mother – Aang and Katara – two people so much in love, and yet the two most unlikely people to have saved the world. They and a handful of misfits thwarted her and her father's plans. She looked at them derisively every time they were affectionate to each other, dismissing their devotion as idiocy. Nevertheless, the image of Aang and Katara's constant care and affection for each other, and what it meant to them, stuck in her mind.

_"__No one_ is that happy," she tried to remind herself in the argument with Katara about Noren and Noriko as well as her and Aang, but knew it was hollow.

The fact was - they _were_ that happy together.

She laughed ironically, "These people couldn't, no _shouldn't_ love me. I tried to kill _all _of them - _several _times. I don't deserve and I can't accept their love, not for everything I did or tried to do to them."

What was worse was she was not sure she wouldn't do all those things again, so that is why she fled. She decided would never come back to Hira'a ever again. Her only escape was to flee, so she wouldn't accidentally or on purpose hurt these people.

The truth came to her, "I told Zuko he was weak because he cared. But am _I_ weak because I _don't_ care?"

But she battled herself again.

"Caring takes too much commitment. It's just easier to order people to do things without feeling," she tried to say self-righteously, but knew it was shallow.

But she was losing the battle with her old self and her old ways.

"Who's the idiot _now,_ Azula?" she scoffed at herself, realizing that love made them stronger, not weaker. It was the only explanation for Aang recovering from her fatal attack against him in the old Ba Sing Se catacombs.

She went still deeper into the woods. The spirits in the forest felt her fear, confusion, and self loathing, and recoiled from her dark energy. She was not simply lost in the woods, but lost in her ways and her life and convictions about everything.

She sat beside one of the tranquil pools, with her head in her hands, racked by sobs and huge tears. Azula's heart, mind, and soul were the antithesis of tranquility.

…

Despite her best judgment and desire to be completely finished with all the human affairs of the past few days, the Mother of Spirits sensed Azula's deep-rooted troubles as easily as she had sensed Ursa's. Azula was easier to sense actually, as this truly despondent young woman, the daughter of the one called Ursa, was negatively affecting all her fellow spirit animals in the forest.

But in this one there was some hope, though she could not see it within herself yet. The daughter Ursa wanted to forget, despite her self-hatred, was slowly reconciling her own terrible thoughts and feelings.

The Mother of Spirits had asked the butterfly bat to watch and to wait for this young woman since she entered the Valley, and to inform the blue wolf if something changed postively. It had not taken long.

As unaccustomed as the Mother of Faces was to resolving frivolous human issues, this issue was too close to her own situation.

She had been troubled for millennia at her son Koh's separation from her over his battle with her over his perceived lack of freedom and self-determination. It had caused a terrible parting of ways, with Koh literally opposing her creation of new faces by destroying faces. This young woman Azula had a similar situation to Koh and the Mother of Faces. Koh, like Azula, felt controlled by a parent, and wanted attention and acceptance through his own actions, only to feel like he was ignored and underappreciated. Both children - one human and one spirit - lashed out against their parents.

This human Azula reminded her of Koh's struggle and alienation which now resurfaced and was just as raw to the Mother of Spirits as it had been thousands of years ago. Why the Mother of Faces cared about this one very troubled human was beyond her understanding. But the Avatar had raised her sensitivities about human frailties and her ability to heal them. By her hands, two other broken human relationships had been satisfyingly restored. Perhaps another could be healed too.

She rose from deep waters of the tranquil pool, and with a renewed sense of purpose, confronted Azula, "What can I do for you human?"

Azula was too deep in her inner turmoil to be awed or fear – or have hope - in the huge spirit.

"What can you _possibly_ do for me, spirit?" Azula scoffed.

The Mother of Faces remained cheerful, "I can change your face and your mind. I sense more turmoil in you than even your mother possessed years ago."

"Who says I _want_ change? Suppose I am _happy_ with my own destruction?" Azula sneered, trying to be defiant as always to anyone who even appeared to care about her.

The Mother of Faces smiled kindly across all five of her blue mouths, "You will not admit it, child, but the need exists within your heart to change. More than your anger and your desire to end your existence. You have always wanted to survive and prevail. But now you can do that in a _different _way."

Azula shook with how easily The Mother of Spirits saw into her heart. She was right. Far too right.

"You sound like my _mother,"_ she grumbled, trying to show her tough, uncaring image.

"Thank you, Azula. Your mother is a _wise_ woman. I respect her. She was right to want to know you as her daughter again, having chosen to forget you for a time. Mothers _always_ care for their children, no matter how old they get," the spirit reflected, confessing as much about her and Koh as Ursa and Azula in her statement.

Azula couldn't escape it. Even this spirit had love and compassion – as much as the people she hated did.

But Azula acquiesced, and inquired, "Why would you _want_ to help me, Mother of Faces? Just look at the _mess_ I have made of my entire life. And others."

The spirit explained kindly, "You have much to contribute to this life, young woman. You have unmatchable skill as a bender. More than any other I can sense in this world. Your blue flames are actually the flames of _purity._ You just do not recognize them as such."

For the first time in her life she said, "Thank you," and wondered how she could possibly know about her special fire bending skill.

Apparently the forest had many eyes in many places.

The Mother of Faces continued, "There are other ways to use that fire. Fire heals as much as it destroys. It can burn off the decay of the hidden life that is within you. It can illuminate what cannot be seen. It can purify that which is sullied. Fire can warm a cold heart, much like yours. The great Fire Warriors knew of this. The Dragons knew of this. You can learn too."

In all her life she had never heard such words, even from all the cowering sages who served her and her family.

"So fire can heal as well as destroy?"

"Yes."

"I thought only the water benders could heal."

"With the right heart and spirit, fire is more powerful than water in healing, and used together, nothing is impossible."

Azula was very curious now. This was something completely different. It was nothing like what her father, the fire sages, or her mentors had ever taught her.

"How can I find out how to do that?"

"You must let me change your face and mind to free your soul for this new knowledge. Your troubled heart and mind will not permit it now."

"Will I remember my past?"

"No. To accept your future you must turn away from the past. You _must _choose. You have come to Forgetful Valley to seek a _change _in your life. Choose this and _thrive._ Stay the same and die alone of _regret _for a path not taken, and of things you long for that can _never _be."

She thought hard. Using the example of her own mother, she had seen how much the Mother of Spirits could change a person and give them peace. Everything that currently troubled her would disappear – her knowledge of Zuzu, her mother and her father, and all the rest of the disappointments would be gone. Her unfulfilled desire for power, her envy of her Fire Lord brother, and her realization of a life of abuse by her father would disappear. Feeling the pain of those things well up again in her heart, and knowing there was nothing she could ever do to change any of that, she finally knew the right answer.

She sighed deeply, and closed her eyes, clasping her hands before her, not knowing that her mother had done exacting the same gestures, "Then I choose the _change."_

The Mother of Faces smiled at her wise choice, and held out her massive vine-covered hand. A sweet looking young woman's face glowed and floated above the hand, and displayed itself to Azula.

The spirit said softly, "Here is the face I have chosen for you."

It was a pretty face, but it was different than hers. It seemed to have a natural, permanent smile.

"I like this face, spirit. It will do. Thank you."

"Stand still," said the spirit.

The ethereal new face glowed from the left palm of the Mother of Faces, rotated, and drifted toward Azula, stretched, formed, and surrounded her old face and hair. The glowing face gently draped itself around Azula's head, completely covering her old visage. The spirit gently placed her sharply pointed wooden fingers under the new glowing face's chin, making sure it was placed correctly over Azula's old face.

The Mother of Faces reached both of her hands around the head of Azula, holding her head firmly and placing her thumbs over the fire bender's eyes to protect them from the brilliant light that grew intensely from the spirit's hands. The rest of her fingers enveloped and grasped the sides and back of Azula's head firmly.

Azula's head and face shone brightly, with shafts of intense light escaping between the gaps in the spirit's fingers. Azula gasped, and partially uplifted her arms and hands in surprise and helplessness. The glow began to die, and the Mother of Faces released Azula's face. The new face took its first breath, but her eyes will still closed.

The spirit completely removed her grasp from Azula, but instead of standing dazzled for a few minutes and recovering as others had done after the facial transformation, the young woman fainted.

The Mother of Faces turned to her wolf, and ordered, "Take her _there,_ now. I will await your return. He will know what to do."

Gently the wolf nuzzled the unconscious Azula gently and securely on to his blue-furred back, and he ran through the edge of Forgetful Valley to the shore, swam into the sea a great distance. He approached a mountainous island isolated from any of the other lands of the Fire Nation archipelago. It looked devoid of life.

The great blue wolf laid his precious cargo on the beach, howled, and disappeared.

The head sage head of the Fire Temple refuge heard the call, and immediately ordered his junior sages to go to the beach. They left the towering ancient Fire Temple hidden in a beautiful tree-lined valley. The summers here were brief this far north but they were spectacular.

They found an unconscious, unknown young woman on the beach, and gently tried to revive her. She was pretty, had very long dark brown hair, and was wearing a Fire Nation pant suit that appeared to have markings of nobility. She awoke groggily, and whispered, "Where am I?"

One junior sage said quietly, "You are home now."

"That's good…" she said faintly.

She fell back into unconsciousness, and was placed gently by the sages rest in one of the residence hall beds, and was cared for, but not disturbed by several nuns.

She awoke from the spartan bed the next morning, and looked at herself in the mirror. She had had no idea who she was, and was still wearing her fire nation pantsuit. She ran from her room, very confused and panicked, but was met by some male and female acolyte sages.

She had an alarmed look, "I… I'm sorry… I don't know who I am or how I got to this place."

"We know someone who can tell you that. Please follow us," they all said calmly and escorted her to the main temple.

She was amazed at the huge ancient Fire Temple and the ornateness of its architecture. She had not seen a temple of this grandeur and antiquity before, but she didn't know why she knew that.

The head sage turned from his morning meditation before a golden statue of an ancient fire bending Avatar, bowed graciously to the young woman, and greeted her, "Good day. You were brought to us, young woman. We are pleased that you are here."

"Where am I?" she asked, looking around, anxious for some glimmer of recognition of this place.

The sage said kindly, "You are someplace safe and far from harm. A place few but the spirits know exists."

Somehow that was enough. Something within her unspoken thoughts needed that.

"Who am I?" she puzzled.

The sage replied, "You are a _gift,_ child. No one comes to our shores by accident. You have a purpose in being here."

She strained to remember, "But I don't know what that purpose is. I cannot remember… _anything."_

"Do you wish a name until your memory returns?" the sage asked.

"I would be honored if you would select a name for me," she acknowledged humbly.

The sage requested, "Please show us your bending. Then I will know best what to call you for now."

"How do you know that I can bend?" she asked in disbelief.

"I can sense the energy within people," he stated simply.

"I did not know that is possible," she reflected.

The sage explained, "Here you will find many things are possible. Those who are in touch with the energy with themselves can sense bending. The Lion Turtles knew this as truth."

She may not have known her name, but Azula still remembered all of her fire bending skills, and conducted all the motions with her blue flames. Not remembering her past or being troubled by anything else, her mind could focus and generate the most brilliant blue flames she had ever conceived. To her great surprise, she discovered that she could generate lightning.

"Oh, my," she exclaimed as it happened, with the halls of the Temple echoing with the thunder.

A number of sages looked at her and the head sage with concern. There were only a handful of people in the Fire Nation who could generate lightning, and all but one were bad people. The sage dismissed their concerns.

The head sage remained calm noting her special talent of lightning bending, "A rare gift... You have great skills, young woman. But you were bred and trained for combat. Fire has other uses here."

"I… I don't know how I acquired these skills. I cannot remember," Azula admitted.

"It does not matter, my dear. You have the skills. Here we come for healing and insight. And peace. Fire heals as much as it destroys. It can burn off the decay of the hidden life that is within you. It can illuminate what cannot be seen. It can purify that which is sullied. Fire can warm a troubled heart, much like yours. The great Fire Warriors knew of this. The Dragons knew of this. You can learn too," he explained.

Azula gasped in recognition, and knew that she had heard those words before, but could not place where or by whom.

She answered without hesitation, "I understand. I… I think that is why I am here. To be forgiven of a troubled heart. To heal."

"Yourself? Or others?" the sage asked.

"I believe that it is both," she bowed and confessed.

The sage confessed, "That is most wise, young woman. While you are here among us, I would like to call you 'Kaiyo', because you come here to seek forgiveness and new purpose."

"I accept the name Kaiyo as my own. Thank you," she said, making the fire sign, and bowed.

She heard an odd noise. It was lowing much more intense and deeper than any pig cow or other grazing animal. She looked overhead. It was a flock of sky bison.

Kaiyo smiled in amazement, "They are beautiful. I thought there was only one left."

"The spirits saw the wisdom to keep them alive, and left them in our care, even during the war, that air bending may return to this world.

"But you're _fire _sages. What has that got to do with sky bison and air bending priests?" she questioned.

"Sages of any kind are bound to maintain the balance between the bending elements, even in times when there is no balance. It is the only balance in times between Avatars," he noted.

"No spiritual leader I have ever known has said _that…_ uhh… wherever I come from," Kaiyo observed, straining to remember, but could not.

"We are very close to the spirits here with all the elements, including air. The northern spirit portal is not far from here. It is said that when the souls of the air benders departed the Northern Air Temple, they resided here, within the bison."

Kaiyo dared to inquire, "But what now, wise sage, may I ask? What of my bending, and why am I here with you?"

He approached her and stopped an arm's length away from her. He placed his hands in front of her. His hands glowed an intense yellow, a color she had never seen. His fingers were engulfed in yellow flames but did not burn. Flames rose around his hands, but his face displayed the utmost calm and concentration. He looked serene, closing his eyes, and traced a rhythmic pattern around her head and body. She had no fear. He was content as one sitting around a beachside campfire with friends. She did not know where that analogy came from. The phenomenon was similar to water healing, but with its own unique aspects. She had never seen fire benders with a healing skill.

"Fire can heal and can allow us to see into everyone's very soul. I think you will have a special talent for it, Kaiyo," the sage encouraged.

"I wish to learn these new skills, honorable sage," she prostrated herself before him in submission to become an acolyte.

**Seventy One Years Later**

A teenage water bender was brought unconscious before the head sage in the temple by younger sages. They had found her washed up on their beach and recognized her immediately. They put her on a stretcher and with great urgency rushed to the main temple to the head sage. The aged, gray-haired, and heavily-wrinkled sage was in deep concentration at a shrine, but got up and met the four young sages carrying the limp figure.

One junior sage said as he bowed before the head sage, "Master. We found the Avatar washed up on shore, but she doesn't remember anything."

Korra muttered over and over, "Raava… Raava…"

The junior sages placed Korra on an altar-like stone edifice, and backed away. The head sage, a stoop-shouldered, ancient woman, looked at Korra with considerable worry. Her hands glowed bright yellow, and tongues of flame followed her in gentle circles as she moved her outstretched hands over the unconscious young woman with great concentration. She closed her eyes as she focused on finding what was within.

The head sage said with great urgency, "A dark energy has infected her. We must purge it before it destroys her."

To her sages she ordered urgently, "Prepare her immediately for spirit water immersion."

"Yes, Master Sage Kaiyo," another said and they went about their task quickly.


End file.
